What to look for when considering broadband plans.
Having to compare business or home broadband internet plans is no easy task – it can be a little like an apples to oranges comparison if you’re not sure about the features and lingo.
Below you’ll find a comparison of Lightning Broadband’s services to general NBN and ADSL2 ISP offerings, followed by information on what each of the aspects means.
It’s important to familiarise yourself with many of these aspects, particularly if you’ll be signing a contract. You don’t want to be stuck with a sub-par internet service provider who can’t meet your needs for a year, or perhaps even two!
Points of comparison
Compare Download Speed
Download speed refers to the rate at which data moves to your computer, measured in Mbps. Bear in mind that just because a plan is capable of this speed, it doesn’t mean you’ll always get it or perhaps even rarely with some ISP’s – this is where contention can come into play; a common problem during the evenings (more on this below).
Another factor can be the server hosting the web site at the other end – if it’s bogged down, you can have the fastest internet connection bandwidth in the world and you’ll still experience loading issues for that particular web site.
With ADSL2, maximum speed depends on your distance from exchange. 24Mbps is the maximum – actual speeds are usually more sluggish. 24Mbps is slower than even our entry level plan!
We’re constantly monitoring and tweaking in an effort to help ensure clients are experiencing the best possible broadband speed, all the time. The Mbps rates indicated on our home broadband page are standard/typical evening speeds!
Compare Upload Speed
Upload speed is where Lightning Broadband wins hands down when compared to the NBN. The fastest NBN Tier (Tier 5) isn’t even half the upload speed of our top home fixed wireless internet plan and just a fraction of our high-end commercial offerings.
Even on our entry level home broadband plan (25 Mbps), our upload speeds are 500% faster than an equivalent NBN plan (Tier 2).
Comparing Contention
This is a little trickier to compare as you won’t have access to this information.
Contention is the ratio of subscribers to the amount of available resources (bandwidth).
It’s been a common issue throughout Australia’s internet evolution that ISPs tend to try and assign as many users as possible onto a certain amount of bandwidth resources; hoping they all won’t jump online at once. Of course, at times they do – particularly during the evenings and major events. This leads to a very noticeable degradation in performance.
We understand it’s an online world now, so we go to great lengths to ensure that you’ll never be left screaming at the screen. After all, a happy customer is one that will stay with us and tell others about their great experience.
Comparing Advertised Speeds
An important aspect to check is whether the speed advertised is the highest that can be attained, or is a typical speed. Some services may provide what is advertised during the quieter hours and then slow right down during peak periods during the evening. Our plans indicate standard/typical evening speeds.
Comparing Cost
As with mobile phone plans, it can be a little tricky comparing internet plans; but the old saying of “you get what you pay for” can come into play. Lightning Broadband may cost a little more compared to some ISP’s, but that little extra is paying for quality of service, our amazing unequaled upload speeds and unlimited data.
Comparing Latency
Latency is a measure of time delay from one point of a network to another. It’s not such a big issue for the average internet user, but for serious gamers, it can be an important aspect. Some of our team are gamers, so we’ve got your back.
Comparing Jitter
Again, not such a huge issue for the average user (but jitter is very low with our services). Jitter is the change in the amount of time it takes for a piece of data to move from a point in a network to another point.
Compare Bandwidth/Data Allowances
The faster your internet speed, the more data you’ll consume; particularly once you can access all the bandwidth-intensive sites and content that you perhaps avoided previously due to slow speeds and continuous buffering.
In our view, the days of data capped internet plans are over and should be dead and buried – unlimited data is what every Australian needs and deserves.
Comparing Support
This is another common issue with some ISP’s. You have a problem, so you call up the support line for assistance and then you’re having to deal with someone in an overseas call center who you can barely understand. All our team are based in Australia and have excellent communications skills.
Whether it’s broadband for home or a business broadband plan you’re searching for, we have the technology, the people and the passion to help ensure your internet experience is always blistering-fast!
Check availability in your area by contacting our team via our online form, hello@lightningbroadband.com.au or on 1300 596 426
